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Stuck on You: If it’s important enough to put a label on it, that label better stay stuck! 5 reasons why Brother’s TZe label tape is the best man for the job.

If it’s important enough to put a label on it, that label better stay stuck under any circumstances: You don’t want to find scratched-out fuzz where your “Hazardous Material” label used to be and the lid on the floor. That’ll never happen if you start smart, and stick with professional quality TZe technical tape from Brother.

WHAT MAKES THEM WORK?

Before choosing the right tape for your job, we thought you might like to get a peek inside the process of how Brother TZe tapes are made. What appears to be an ordinary label is actually a highly technical seven-layer sandwich. Characters are formed with a thermal transfer ink and pressed between two protective layers of polyester film, creating a virtually indestructible label that withstands the harshest conditions

Wow, a whole whack of technology goes into these tapes!

LAB TESTED, MARKET APPROVED

We developed five crucial tests to challenge every one of our marketing claims and had the tests administered by a highly qualified, third-party facility in Japan. They conducted the tests under lab conditions and we do not recommend you try this at home, or at work for that matter. No animals or humans were injured, but our tapes took quite a beating.

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE

We tried. We really tried to break these tapes down by simulating a broad range of extreme conditions. But no matter what we threw at them, they Would. Not. Quit.

1. Abrasion resistantWe first conducted an abrasion test. We hauled out a 1kg industrial strength sander (the kind of thing you’d use to strip paint off your deck) and ran it back and forth over one of our laminated labels 50 times. There was virtually no impact and the label was perfectly legible. We can’t say the same for the non-laminated competitor label we put through the same ordeal.

2. Heat and cold resistant
Antarctica or the Equator? Wherever your labelling needs are, with a test range of -80ªC to 150ºC, our tapes will exceed your wildest performance expectations. We tested these conditions by sticking our tape to a stainless steel surface that was heated and then cooled for a period of 240 hours at 150ºC, and another 240 hours at -80ºC. The tape remained firmly affixed and there was no noticeable colour change. Like the Incredible Hulk, who gets stronger the madder he gets, at the high temps, the tapes actually increased their adhesive strength the worse the temperature got!

3. Fade resistant
We also wanted to find out how our tapes would fare under a variety of lighting conditions, and to see how they would react to a year of simulated full sunshine. We attached a range of colourful laminated labels to metal plates and popped them in a well-lit oven at 83ºC for 100 hours. Then we took a look. There were almost no colour changes, and the text was as legible as it was when it went in. For good measure, we also dropped them in a hot bath at 63º C for 400 hours, to simulate a year in heat, light and water. They came out looking as good as new.

4. Water and chemical resistant
We then tested our tapes’ resilience to various chemicals they may encounter in industrial use.

In our first test we attached labels to glass slides and then immersed them in various liquids for up to 2 hours. While some labels absorbed certain chemicals, the impact on legibility and other tape qualities was minimal. Rubbing those same chemicals on the surface showed no impact at all— proving that our tapes are splash proof and, at most, may require a quick wipe-down if they get sprayed or spattered.

We went a step further in stage two and actually used a 500g iron, covered with a chemical and solvent infused cloth, and rubbed various labels 20 times each. Not even acetone—a chemical used specifically to wipe off things like nail polish and paint—had an impact. Our TZe tapes showed no signs of degradation. (Once again, we almost felt bad when competitor tapes were rendered illegible on contact with toluene, acetone, and ethyl acetate.)

5. Adhesion, aka, the Gecko test
As great as all these qualities are, a tape that doesn’t stay stuck isn’t of much use to anyone. We had to be sure our laminated labels were also tenaciously adhesive.

Considering the wide range of applications for our tapes, we tested both our 12mm standard tape and the extra-strength adhesive tape on a variety of surfaces: stainless steel, glass, PVC, acrylic, polypropylene and polyester coated wood. We left the tapes in place for 30 minutes, then attempted to remove them. They remained stuck with an adhesive strength of 6 Newtons, which means, in layman’s terms: they stay stuck. Period.

BUT CAN YOU REMOVE THEM?

Time comes when you may need to switch those labels around. Are you going to have to label over the old ones? Not too worry. TZe tapes can be easily removed. In most cases, they’ll peel away with no residue. When the tape has been used in very humid or hot environments, or been in contact with certain chemicals, some leftover adhesive may be visible. But you easily remove it with ethanol.

WHERE SHOULD YOU NOT USE TZE TAPES?

We don’t recommend using TZe tapes where they’ll be submerged in alcohol for an extended period of time. Alcohol can degrade the quality of the tape adhesive over time. Nor do we recommend using them on copper surfaces or sensitive electronics, such as circuit boards, as our tapes are acrylic and weakly acid.

So choose wisely brave working warrior. Pick the right tool for the job. Scotch-taped labels and sticky notes are fine for those daily to-do lists you actually don’t want to see tomorrow. But for the important stuff that needs to stick around, there should only be one consideration: TZe Tape from Brother.